One of Those Days
by Bao Blossom
Summary: Lindsey's recollection of the day they solved the Holly's robbery case in Not What it Looks Like. What was and wasn't seen in the episode. DL with no OOC.
1. Prologue

I don't usually do fanfics for TV shows but, I really felt the episode deserves it. I haven't read many CSI:NY fics but I'm almost positive it has been done before. Sorry 'bout that, but still, this is _my_ original idea; I didn't copy anyone and hope no one copies me. So! This is my version of Lindsey's POV from the "Not What it Looks Like." episode. If you haven't seen it, there are major spoilers and you probably won't understand, you have been warned!

I do not own CSI (any of them) or any of their characters. I just do this for fun. I want to continue having fun so please don't sue me.

_**One of Those Days**_

Today I had gotten up at seven, taken a quick shower and headed for work. My normal everyday routine. Nothing out of the ordinary. But of course, grandma always said that all days started out the same, and it was our decisions that made them exceptional. I had proven this many times before. And I would prove it again today.

Now, it was ten past nine and the day had ended. I was once again at my apartment getting ready to take a shower. You wouldn't have guessed I had life threatening experience if you saw me now.

I took off my watch and my necklace placing both over my nightstand. I traded my shoes for my slippers and grabbed my bathrobe. Before I walked into the bathroom I turned on my stereo and Jewel's music filled the room. Normally I kept it down for the neighbor's sake but today was not 'normally'.

I turned on the hot water and closed the shower curtain. Even if my day had started out with a shower I felt I needed a good 'cleansing' anyway. Besides, tomorrow I didn't have to go to work, my hair could do what ever the hell it wanted to.

We had been called to a scene at Fieldcrest Jewelers, a DB after a robbery. It sounded simple. We catch the burglars, pin them for the death, and recover the stolen merchandise, end of story. Simple right?

Boy was I wrong.

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I know it's too soon, but if you can I'd appreciate a review!


	2. Chapter 1

Lindsey will be bathing and having recollections of her thoughts is this chapter and the next, that's what the breaks indicate, just so you don't get thrown off. Enjoy.

_**One of Those Days**_

"Hey, can someone pass me my kit. The girls left us with the jackpot in here and I'm unarmed," I shouted back over my shoulder. At the moment I was exploring the inside of a vent in the jewelry shop. I couldn't turn around; it was too narrow for that. So now I needed equipment to bag everything they had left inside.

"Can you come get it or should I just slide it over?" Danny asked from the opening.

I grunted. I was small, but not that small. "It's a one way road Danny."

"With one heck of a view," I heard him as the kit slid to a stop beside me. My eyes widened. Obviously Stella had left; he wouldn't have said that with her nearby.

"Don't you have something better to do?" I snapped back.

"You think I'm gonna see something like this out there?" I could practically hear the smile in his words.

I scoffed and blushed in spite of myself. After calling him an ass under my breath I went to work on the wigs. "Scram, I'll be fine in here."

"Have fun kido." He laughed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The water came over my face and hair. I closed my eyes for a moment and let the warm rivers flow down my body. When my hair was wet enough I reached up for my shampoo.

It was just like any other day; the flirting, the teasing. It caught me by surprise that he took off and left me alone at the scene. But I found out why soon enough. I got to meet one of his 'friends' as soon as I arrived back at the lab.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I got everything I could pick up from the vent," I was informing Stella in the halls of our building. "I even managed to pick up a partial, but I'm not sure it's going to be useful."

"Ok, see if you can get anything off the wigs, if you need help Sheldon is in trace." She informed me and made a detour towards her office.

"Where's Danny?"

She looked back at me with a smile. "Reconstruction." The tone of her voice and those raised eyebrows filled me with curiosity. "You should go check in on him."

Left alone in the hall I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea. At least I would know why he left so suddenly back at the scene. I caught a glance at him through the glass doors and walked in casually.

"Hey, you gonna tell me why you left in such a rush this morning?"

He looked up from the computer.

"What was so important that you had to leave me al--" I was cut off by something warm and furry jumping up my leg. The damn thing scared me half to death and I was about to fling it across the room before I realized what the heck it was. The tiny dog was frenetic with joy jumping over my legs.

"Bobby! Stay!" Danny called out forcefully.

The dog perked up at the sound of his voice and instead of obeying ran over and repeated his ritual with Danny.

"Sit! Sit!" the commands bounced off the mutt and I let out a chortle before I was able to control myself.

"Is he yours?" I asked amazed.

"No." Danny answered back angrily. "A friend let me borrow him for a while. I needed him for reconstruction."

"Really?" I smiled at the look on his face.

"The Holly's used a frequency device to break the glass, that's why we couldn't find any stress marks on it. Kujo here helped me confirm it." He said ignoring the dog and going back to the computer.

"Wow, Bobby's a genius." I smiled. At the sound of his name the perky pup ran back over to me and smelled curiously at my ankles. This time I played along just to see that look on Danny's face.

"Hello Bobby. What did the creepy man do to a precious little thing like you huh?" I bent down and took the pup in my arms.

Ecstatic, Bobby made a move and was licking my cheek before I knew what was happening.

"Great, the dog is here for fifteen minutes and he's already made more progress than me."

This time, I did laugh. The whole situation was hilarious, because even though Danny meant it as a joke there was a gist of honesty behind it. He was jealous of the dog.

"He does have some pretty smooth moves." I laughed and set the dog down. He seemed happy to be able to keep jumping on me.

At that moment Sheldon came in and greeted me. "Hey, Stella told me you had the crime scene samples,"

He caught sight of the dog twirling around my legs and laughed, then he turned to Danny and shook his head, "I rest my case."

"Get out!" Danny ordered us both.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I smiled as soap ran down my back. Up until that moment the day had actually been very fun. It had never been so easy to poke fun at Danny. I worked the rest of the day with Sheldon and Danny took off downtown a while later. He came back without the dog.

By that time, the crime had escalated. We now had two bodies and a disturbing theory. Flack came over and we managed to put some more pieces together. I learned what a blood diamond was, and after an eternity of scanning we managed to find ourselves a new suspect.

Mosi Gedhi was our target at 211 Bedford Ave. We traveled in two cars, Flack with Stella and I and Danny with Sheldon behind us. Just before we got there we found our second Holly and after the explanation she offered, my day got a lot darker.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Please! I've only got till five that's in ten minutes!" Beth screamed as the police dragged her off.

My heart was hammering in my chest at the idea that was running through my head. It was risky, it was stupidly dangerous, but I know I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt after this if I didn't try it.

"If we let her do the drop off, she's dead." Explained Stella who had been arguing with Flack about the situation.

"I'll do it." I blurted out as they exchanged surprised looks.

Stella gave me a 'no way in hell' look. "I'm the same size, they were wearing wigs; they'll never know." I tried justifying.

Flack looked me over and I could see he was considering seriously. Stella looked like she was trying to find a good reason to say no but came up with nothing. The situation was out of our hands. She knew this was the only way. I didn't even turn to look at Danny. I knew what kind of look he must have had.

"Are you insane? Monroe you're gonna end up getting yourself killed." He said in a rigid voice.

I turned and looked hard into his eyes. Yeah that's right, make this harder Messer.

"It could work, if we act now." Said Flack raising his brows at me. I nodded as Danny gave his friend a death glare. I knew he understood, but I also know it must have been hard on him.

They sent me over to the van to get equipped with a bullet proof vest as Flack explained the plan to Stella and Danny. After they had explained the plan to me I felt my stomach turn various times. What had I gotten myself into?

"What do you think your doing?" Danny's voice came up behind me.

"Danny I'll be fine." I tried for a smile.

"No, no. We have under cover's who can do this a' right? It's not our job." He tried. It was actually sweet that he was worried about me but he wasn't exactly making this any easier.

Placing the last strip of Velcro across my waist I looked up and sighed. "It is now. You heard what Beth said, if we don't get up there in four minutes that girl is dead."

I had him cornered. He couldn't have talked me out of it anyway, I think he realized this because all he did was sigh and look away. He knew I was right.

"You'd better not get yourself killed up there Montana. I mean it."

"I'll be careful." An almost uncontrollable urge to go and wrap my arms around him invaded my body. He looked like he needed the hug, hell _I_ needed it too. My hands began to get twitchy as I looked into his eyes. But I held back and looked away. I was a professional and besides, there was no reason for this to go wrong, right?

Yeah, not even I believed that.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I felt my stomach tighten as I remembered what had happened next. I didn't say goodbye to him; that would have sounded way to fatalistic. He didn't even look at me when I left though. It left me with a sense of emptiness in my stomach even if everyone else had wished me good luck.

I ran the soap over my legs and hips, as I guided it across my waist I stopped and cringed. The bruise hadn't appeared yet but I knew that by tomorrow there would be a nasty purple blotch over my left side. It was where I had fallen over the chair. I slid the soap carefully over my injury and continued upward.

What had happened in the apartment would stick with me for quite a while. It was like a bad movie playing over and over in my head. I remembered the smells, the feelings, the images. They had been too intense.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Try again." He clicked the lock open.

I stopped breathing. The gun was in my face before I knew what had happened. The damn picture had given me away.

"Who are you?" he asked pushing the gun towards my face.

There was a plan I had to follow. I had a bullet proof vest. There was an armed force just outside the door waiting for my signal to come and save us. I knew all of these things and yet it took almost all of my concentration to focus on something other than the barrel of the gun.

"Who are you!"

My fingers released without my order and there was a burst of information in my head. I guess it's one of those moments in life you never forget, you know, when you don't really know if you'll end up dead or alive. The feeling sticks with you forever.

It's funny what they say about your whole life flashing before your eyes when you're about to die. That's a load of crap. My mind went completely blank on me at that moment. When I finally decided to throw myself against the girl all I heard was Danny's exasperated voice telling me that this wasn't our job.

My ears popped and I flew against the girl. The heat wave hit me in midair, by that time I couldn't hear anymore. I'm not too sure about what happened after that, probably many, many things. But the next thing _I_ knew was that I was on the floor with the edge of the chair pressing painfully against my side. There was a buzz all around me. I had trouble figuring out if it was in my head or in my ears. Maybe it was both.

Beyond the buzzing I managed to make out voices. Some familiar, many others I didn't know. I was hearing. I was alive. 'Oh God!' I tried to stand up and only made it up to a crouching position. My eyes stung and I shut them tightly feeling tears. I blamed it on the smoke. My arms where shaking when I pulled them up to my ears. They hurt like hell. Or at least my body told me they did. Right then I was still very numb. The moment was painfully long and more confusing with each heartbeat.

Then amongst my troubled thoughts I heard one voice stand out. My name. My name with his voice, with that tone, at that moment made everything just sort of implode in my chest.

"Lindsey!" he yelled again.

I looked up and saw nothing that made sense; white powder and shadows moving through it.

"Danny!"

He came out of the smoke with an expression I'll never forget. I felt strong arms hoist me up and I was suddenly looking into his worry stricken eyes. He looked me over twice and placed fearful hands over my arms before he looked into my eyes.

"You a' right?" he whispered. To tell you the truth I didn't actually hear him, but I made out the words on his lips and answered on automatic.

"Yeah."

It seemed that the sound of my voice was all he needed to hear, because after that I could do nothing to stop him from pulling me into him. Not that I wanted to stop him. Before I could reciprocate he pulled back and looked me over one more time.

I couldn't tear my gaze from his eyes as he took a hand up to my hair and stroked it. Too many emotions were running amok inside my chest for me for me to make sense of anything. When he pulled me back into his chest I clung to his shirt so tightly I could feel my nails through the fabric.

I had been flooded by my emotions many times before; you would think I knew how to control them by now. Bull. I remembered having had the urge to hug him before I came up, and thought about what would have happened if Gedhi had pulled that trigger. I would have never seen him again. Then what? What would have been left of me?

Tears rounded in my eyes, but I refused to let them out. Instead I held on tighter, drew closer and took in one long breath. His hand cradled my waist firmly against him and the other over my hair kept my face glued to his chest. Even with my injured ears, I could still hear his agitated heart. Mine was probably going at the same rhythm.

His chin left the top of my head and I felt a kiss over my hair. My throat tightened and it was at that moment when I realized this man had long since been more than just a friend to me. Whatever this was, it ran deep.

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Ok, now I _know_ you've read enough to have an opinion. Review please! I tried to keep this as true to the story as I could remember. If I screwed something up, please let me know.


	3. Chapter 2

Ack! I just watched Love Run Cold!! It changes everything!!! I totally had to redo this last chapter, that's why I took so long to post it... actually I don't think it's going to be the LAST chapter anymore... don't know, I'll see what comes out with the new info (man I hate seeing everything so late over here!)

_**One of Those Days**_

I could feel tears at the edges of my eyes while I was washing off my hair. I had been thinking of death since five this afternoon. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Crime Scene Investigator. I see and think about death more than most people do. I've seen the atrocities people can do, I just never link them back to myself, or anyone I know for that matter. I couldn't do my job if I did.

Now however, I couldn't get the darkness to lift from my thoughts, especially when I started to think about all the "what if's". What if we hadn't seen Beth? What if I hadn't volunteered? What if he had pulled the trigger? What if I had stopped existing? Would the bullet have lodged itself in my brain or would it have been a through and through? Would Sid be the one examining my body over the cold steel table right now? I gagged. My thoughts were getting too morbid. I felt sick, but I couldn't stop.

What of all the people I would have left behind? Who would have mourned me? How would they have remembered me? How would've Danny felt?

I gave a sigh and wiped the water out of my eyes. I didn't have to imagine that. He had told me himself.

After they had cleared the apartment, Dana and I had been rushed to the ambulance to be examined. The poor girl was in a state, but besides the shock and a few minor injuries, she was ok. I had an ugly bruise on my lower stomach, but that was because I was a clumsy idiot and had hit myself with the girls chair when I'd ducked. There was nothing really wrong with me.

I would have been let go if they hadn't discovered a small tear in my eardrum. That was the reason I now had to miss three days at work and why I had been taken to the hospital with Dana. I don't want to go all medieval on these people, but come on, if that wasn't a flesh wound, then what was?

The doc put me on some antibiotics and gave me something for the inflammation. I turned down the analgesics. The pain was bearable and I hate taking pills. The doctor also asked if I had anyone to call. He didn't want me going home alone because he said something about my equilibrium being compromised. I said I would call someone and he let me go.

Imagine my surprise when I saw he was waiting for me outside.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I watched the buildings rush past as Danny and I drove back to my apartment. My stomach went from feeling weird to feeling sick so I turned and stared at the dashboard instead. There was little conversation and a lot of discomfort. None of us seemed to want to mention what had happened for obvious reasons.

"Left turn at the light," I instructed.

"I know." He barely reacted keeping his eyes on the road.

I couldn't help but steal a glance at him. He couldn't seriously be mad at me. It was absurd. What for? Something was definitely wrong with him though. He hadn't said anything since I had gotten into the car. No smart remarks, no wise cracks, it wasn't like him.

"What's wrong?" I blurted out. He raised a brow and I winced inwardly: that had been smooth.

He didn't do much else though, just waited for the light to turn. I didn't know if his ignoring me was a good thing or a bad thing. When he didn't answer I thought about asking again but decided against it.

Another five minutes of silence passed before he pulled up in front of the stairs of my apartment complex. He turned off the engine and looked up at the car in front of his. I was thinking it would be best to just get out while I could and forget the whole 'what's wrong' thing. That would only lead to places I didn't really want to go anyway.

"You almost died today," he finally answered.

I felt my chest compress hearing the gun click in my head all over again. Subtle as ever I see.

"Danny," I started.

"What the hell Monroe?" he interrupted, "What where you thinkin'? Goin' up there today, making a decision like that."

Don't tell me he's mad and blaming me for what happened!

"Rash as it was; what do you think would have happened to the girls if I hadn't done what I did?" I was mad now too.

"Don't know, maybe a murdered might've put a gun to their heads?"

Now I was pissed. It was like talking to a kid! His sarcastic tone didn't help my mood at all. I knew I had done the right thing, but the way he said it made me feel like I was the stupidest person on the planet for even thinking about it.

"Danny, nothing happened. Would you have liked two more bodies in the morgue instead? You know how it would have gone down without us."

Up till now we had been hanging on to whatever thread of sanity we had left, so we hadn't yelled. But from here on every word seemed to raise a few notches in volume.

"Nothing happened _this_ time," he looked forcefully at me, "what's gonna happen the next time you get an itch and decide to go play hero ah? You ever stop to think about that? You think you're invulnerable?"

"Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing," I shot back.

"That's not the point. This isn't about me Lindsey," he looked down at the steering wheel.

"Well it may as well be! Why don't you just tell me what your problem is?" I finally shouted.

"It's you a'right? It's you being so damn reckless!" apparently he didn't like the sound of his voice with that tone so he took a deep breath and continued, "Jesus, if you would have just stopped to think for one second. About what coulda happened to you? You think I want another dead coworker? Another friend I couldn't protect? I'd rather have ten bodies in the morgue over yours."

And there it was.

I may still have been angry, can't really remember. Something new welled up in my chest and pushed out everything else. He went silent and stared at the ceiling of the car. I looked at him for as long as I dared, then redirected my gaze to my lap.

I heard wrong. This couldn't be happening. What was I supposed to say to something like that?

"You spend more than eight hours a day with someone, they're gonna grow on you."

I turned my eyes back to him.

"I care about you kid. You know that."

No, no, I didn't want to go there, especially not like this. This had gotten out of hand. Somewhere way, way back we had crossed the 'friendly co-worker' line. I think it was when we started to yell.

"Danny," I interrupted. He looked at me with a sort of helpless look in his eyes. It made me cringe.

I had to take a breath to steady myself, "I'm really sorry I made you worry. I honestly didn't know it would bother you so much. And I... I appreciate the sentiment."

He gave a small scoff and half smiled, "But...?"

"But I would have done it anyway," I finished.

He nodded and gave a sour smile still staring out the window, "I know. It's one of the things that makes you, you."

It was in the silence that followed that I realized my heart was hammering away in my chest. I thought this was enough emotional turmoil for one day. It was time to leave and hope things hadn't been too screwed up between us.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I turned off the water and let my head thump against the white tiles. I saw the droplets of water slide down my hair and splash near my feet. If I had just gotten my damn bag and left I wouldn't be in such a state now. My face got hot just remembering it.

Having a gun in your face makes you feel things. Nasty things that are hard to forget. But above fear, regret has a way of sticking with you forever. I guess it's because no matter how much you think about it, you can't blame anyone but yourself for what happened. The whole, 'why did I do it' feeling was what was eating at me right now. I knew I couldn't change anything anyway, but what I would have given if he had just kept his hands to himself.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Montana."

There was quite a sight when I looked back towards him. He was a lot closer than he had just been and his hand was now pressing against my left cheek. I froze when I felt his thumb brush my earlobe. Questions flooded my mind. What was he doing? Why all of a sudden? Why wasn't I pulling back?

What happened next seemed like an out of body experience. There was a fleeting warning amidst my yearning, but it went unnoticed. Dear God how I regret it.

I pushed my face into his and felt our lips touch. I felt him hesitate at first, but when he answered, I melted. The feeble warning had now become a shriek for reason screaming at me to pull away.

To my surprise though, he pulled back on me. There was a look in his eyes I couldn't quite identify, something between regret and bewilderment. _Now_ my logic decided to take over again. I hissed under my breath and felt the blood rush up to my cheeks.

"Uh," he stuttered some and made a few movements to scoot back to the driver's seat.

I felt pathetic. I let my feelings get the better of me and now, now what?

"You're, you were bleeding."

I looked up instinctively to find him looking back at me apologetically. Over his hand I saw the traces of my blood on his 'wandering' thumb. I shut my eyes trying to make the pain and embarrassment go away.

"You ok?" he asked cautiously.

"Uh, thanks for the ride," I smiled and let myself out of his car. It was decided that the more I stayed near him, the more I would screw myself over so it was time to leave.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he jumped out of the SUV and caught me before I got to the stairs. I cursed mentally. It was too much to ask that he let me off that easily.

I couldn't bring myself to look at him. "Danny I, I'm sorry," I said pressing my lids shut, "I shouldn't have, I let--"

"Have dinner with me."

Huh? I made the mistake of looking up at him. His gaze, as always, never faltered. He was, serious.

"What?"

He shrugged, "Let me take you out. I know a nice place we can get together, maybe talk for a while. You know, just you and me."

I felt my cheeks redden (again). No, no, no, no, no. Bad idea.

"Danny," I wavered.

"It'll just be a friendly date."

I scoffed inwardly, yeah right. There was nothing _friendly_ about his proposal. I fisted my hand and gave a meek smile. I couldn't do this. I knew damn well why; even if I wanted it so very badly.

I opened my mouth to say no.

"Ok."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Now of course I was in an even bigger mess than when I had yelled at him. I couldn't do this, I had known before I accepted the invitation. Now I was a mere ten days away from my first 'friendly' date with Danny Messer.

I toweled off my hair and felt something tickle my ear. Not again. I went over to my dresser and picked up the gauze the doctor had given me in case my ear started acting up. Damn blood was what had caused everything to begin with.

But why had I said yes? I knew what it would lead to. I was screwed if I went, and screwed if I didn't go. I should have just pulled away and rushed up to my apartment when I had the chance.

I was now left to lye in my bed with my flannel pj's (reserved for extra crappy days such as this one) and think about things I had long since put behind me. Supposedly anyway.

Eric Clapton came on my stereo and I let the music fill my ears. I really should turn it down; being partially deaf I was sure it was a lot louder than I heard it. I was surprised the neighbors hadn't come complaining.

Then finally, thirty seven minutes later, the day was over. I was still lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. It had just been one of those days, but it was over now. Regardless though, my tears kept falling.

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There's something about this ending that doesn't leave me too convinced, but there you have it. Thank you for your support and your lovely reviews and corrections. I guess the reason I can do Lindsey so well is that I can identify with her character. I'm a small town girl who went to the big city all alone in search of... something too. I also have a crush I don't want turning into anything else. Probably for very different reasons but, I can sympathize anyway.

Of course, as I said I have only seen up to the Love Run Cold episode, so I have no clue what the girl is hiding, maybe that's why I was unconvinced with my ending. But moving on to bigger and better things, I also have an itch to do Danny's POV for what came next in that episode, you know, the whole "Maybe we should just do our jobs" thing. Don't know if I can pull him off though. Some nice reviews might convince me :P

Hope u enjoyed, cuz you'll be seeing me again around here... You have been warned!


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